Saturday, July 25, 2015

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

Like Rebecca Always Rebecca and Shadow Between Us, Je Reviens was released by indie polish maker Literary Lacquers as part of the Rebecca collection in October 2014. This polish completes the trio inspired by the 1938 novel Rebecca by Dame Daphne du Maurier, and is similar in construction to the other two, described by creator Amy as a "deep teal linear holo with holographic sparkle."

However simple that sounds, this polish is not "simply" teal. Courtesy of the nuancing effects of the finely-milled holographic pigment, Je Reviens is a complex murky mixture of shifting hues of blue and green. Medium-dark in tone, it's like the undersea of your imagination, with restless turbid marine blues shadowed and tinted by even deeper vegetable greens. The tiny silver holographic microglitter squares sprinkled throughout the polish glow with bright pinpoint sparks in colors of all sorts but especially aquatic blues and greens, creating an effervescent effect. Direct light provokes a luminous holographic display with a central blaze of cerulean trimmed in twinkling sparks of electric blue and grassy green before shading to a deep, tenebrous sea green at the edges of the nail. Application was delightful. The consistency of Je Reviens is fluid and smooth, with a slightly less viscous formula than the other two Rebecca polishes. It has a silky, self-leveling flow over the nail and is easily manipulated with Literary Lacquers' round flexible brush. As with the other Rebecca polishes, the microglitters glide on without tumbling or stickups and disperse easily across the nail. The first coat is evenly sheer and builds easily to wearable opacity with the second. I would definitely recommend adding a third coat for fullest, richest color. It's a fast drying polish so the addition is not a hardship. Cleanup is easy and straightforward with very little pigment travel and no residual staining, surprising for a deep teal. Je Reviens dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Photos show three coats of Je Reviens over treatment and basecoat with a slightly bubbly topcoat of Seche Vite.

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

Literary Lacquers Je Reviens

I love the full-bodied oceanic coloring of this shade, and the way its moodiness is punctuated by the effervescent twinkle of the microglitters. On the nail it has a brooding, mysterious quality with an underlying sense of something powerful and potentially dangerous in spite of its alluring sparkle. In the novel Rebecca, Je Reviens is the name of the boat that Rebecca was sailing when she drowned. It's French for "I return." To me, this polish is a startlingly apt interpretation of the significance of that plot element. It's kind of spooky, actually!

One thing I've been noticing while working with Amy's formulas is the even, complete nature of their dry-down. A lot of three-, four- and five-free polishes have a certain amount bulk to them, especially if you paint in thicker coats as I have a tendency to do, where the volatile elements evaporate from the surface of the polish very quickly without even penetration to bottom layers. This can result in a certain puffiness to the look of the polish that will even dimple at the free edge if the polish is very thickly applied. Literary Lacquers polishes consistently dry down very evenly, thoroughly, and quickly to a thin, compact layer on the nail, even when multiple medium to thicker coats are used. As a result, the manicure cures and dries to a fresh, crisp look that I imagine would wear very well. Something else I've noticed about Literary Lacquers polishes is that they are always capped very, very securely. I've learned that if I don't want to scrub up my treatment and basecoat layers trying to torque open a fresh bottle of Amy's polish, I better crack open that bottle at the outset and recap. I keep a rubber band in my manicure kit and wrap it around the cap of tightly closed and even stuck polishes to open them. I can't remember where I learned this, but it works really well.

I hope you enjoyed these beautiful, fascinating Rebecca polishes as much as I did. I think my favorite of the three is Rebecca, Always Rebecca, but they're all pretty fabulous! love,Liz